10/25/2011 - NJAC Makes Changes
Can it be that we are already almost a third of the way through the third year of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference?
Wow.
It just seems like yesterday that the conference was just getting its feet wet and people were still referring to teams from Sussex County as members of the Sussex County Interscholastic League.
Time flies and the conference recently released its general and sports specific classifications for its second, two-year scheduling cycle for the 2012-2014 school years.
After its first school year the NJAC overhauled its original classifications and came up with a much better plan that grouped schools by size and location the best it could.
There were some complaints, but for the most part, the last two years have gone as smooth as to be expected for a young conference that houses 38 full-time members from Morris, Sussex and Warren counties.
There are no monumental changes in the new classifications, and as NJAC President John DiColo has always maintained, the league is a work in progress. (See new alignment below).
“It is something we had to do. You have to move some people around,” said DiColo, who is also the AD at Jefferson. “It (changes) works for some and not for others but we are always looking at what we can do to make the conference better.
“This is actually the first scheduling cycle we did following the by-laws that we finalized based on enrollment figures,” he added. “We massaged some of the divisions last year, but we went by the by-laws for this cycle.
“We did what we had to do and I think we did the right thing,” DiColo said.
The major changes? Well, first off, North Warren joining the NJAC in all sports is the biggest in my opinion. The Group 2 school located in Blairstown petitioned to leave the Skyland Conference and it was approved allowing the Pats to join Hackettstown as the only Warren County schools in the loop.
The Pats have been placed in the Freedom Division in all sports except for football. North Warren, a Group 1 school in football, will compete in the Independence with Boonton, Butler, Dover Hopatcong, Kinnelon, Morris Catholic, Mountain Lakes, Pequannock and Whippany Park.
However, DiColo said that all the sports specific divisions are not finalized yet so that could change. If it does I will let you know in a future blog.
Placing the Pats in the Freedom solves a two-year issue in which the sports that play each other twice a season only had 10 division games and in field hockey just eight division games.
With North joining the league and Jefferson also coming back to the Freedom after being placed the American for this school year, the Freedom will have 14 division games which is more like it.
Plus, North Warren will be very competitive in the Freedom, especially in boys and girls soccer, baseball and cross country. The Pats will also hold their own in hoops as well.
The other changes the league made were the aforementioned Jefferson move, which also includes the Falcons leaving the American Division in football and joining the Freedom (that noise you heard was a cry of joy from Jefferson football coach Joe Mattessich!), a move that Jefferson has been wanting for the last two years.
Replacing the Falcons in the American will be Morris Knolls. The Group 4 school from Denville leaves the National and will join its sister school Morris Hills in the American along with High Point, Vernon, Sparta, Pope John, Mount Olive and Montville.
The other move was Chatham, which has grown in leaps-and bounds the last two years, leaving the Independence and joining the larger school National. Chatham is a Group 3 in most sports.
The league also released its enrollment numbers and Vernon remains the largest public school in Sussex County and 11th overall in the NJAC. But Sparta is a close second in the county and is the 12th largest school with High Point not too far behind in third.
Hopatcong is the smallest school in the county and North Warren the smallest in the area, according to the numbers released.
All in all, I think the NJAC did another good job addressing the issues it faced. I know some schools (Morris Hills, I bet) will not be happy, but the league is doing the best it can.
JUST A REMINDER…The Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame will be holding its induction dinner Nov. 4 at Farmstead at 6:30 p.m. The is year’s class is Shannon Sweeney of High Point (hoops), Mickey Thomas of High Point (wrestling and coaching) and Melissa Soroka Williams of Pope John (softball, field hockey, indoor track).
The Veterans Committee will induct Harold Clark of Franklin and Robert Gregory of Newton.
For tickets contact the Hall or any member of the Hall.
That’s it for now see you on the sidelines.
2012-14 DIVISIONS OF THE NJAC
((Adopted 10-18-11)
GENERAL (5)
The sports considered "General" are: Field Hockey, B/G Soccer, B/G Cross Country, B/G Basketball, Wrestling, B/G Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Golf and B/G Track and Field
American:
High Point, Montville, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Mount Olive, Pope John, Sparta, Vernon
National:
Chatham, Delbarton, Mendham, Morristown, Parsippany Hills, Randolph, Roxbury, West Morris
Freedom:
Hackettstown, Hopatcong, Jefferson, Kittatinny, Lenape Valley, Newton, North Warren, Wallkill Valley
Independence:
Academy of St. Elizabeth, Boonton, Butler, Kinnelon, Morris Catholic, Mountain Lakes, Pequannock
Liberty:
Dover, Hanover Park, Madison, Morristown Beard, Parsippany, Villa Walsh, Whippany Park
FOOTBALL DIVISIONS (4)
American:
High Point, Montville, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Mount Olive, Pope John, Sparta, Vernon
National:
Chatham, Delbarton, Mendham, Morristown, Parsippany Hills, Randolph, Roxbury, West Morris
Freedom:
Hackettstown, Hanover Park, Jefferson, Kittatinny, Lenape Valley, Madison, Newton, Parsippany, Wallkill Valley
Independence:
Boonton, Butler, Dover, Hopatcong, Kinnelon, Morris Catholic, Mountain Lakes, North Warren, Pequannock, Whippany Park
B/G SWIMMING DIVISIONS (3)
Northern:
High Point, Jefferson, Kittatinny, Lenape Valley, Newton Valley (New/WV Co-op), Pope John, Sparta, Vernon
Southern I:
Academy of St. Elizabeth (Girls Only), Kinnelon, Montville, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Mountain Lakes, Mount Olive, Randolph, Roxbury
Southern II:
Chatham, Delbarton (Boys only), Madison, Mendham, Morristown, Park Regional (WP/HP Co-op), Parsippany, Parsippany Hills, Pequannock, Villa Walsh (Girls Only), West Morris
BOWLING DIVISIONS (2)
Northern:
High Point, Hopatcong, Jefferson, Newton, Sparta, Sussex Tech, Vernon, Wallkill
Southern:
Butler, Chatham, Delbarton, Lenape Valley, Madison, Morris County School of Tech., Morris Hills, Morris Knolls
FENCING DIVISION (1)
Butler, Chatham, Hackettstown, Mendham, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Morristown, Randolph, West Morris
GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL DIVISIONS (4)
American:
Montville, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Mount Olive, Pope John, Sparta, Vernon
National:
Chatham, Mendham, Morristown, Parsippany Hills, Randolph, Roxbury, West Morris
Freedom:
Academy of St. Elizabeth, Dover, Hackettstown, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Morris Catholic,
Independence:
Hanover Park, Madison, Morristown Beard, Parsippany, Whippany Park, Villa Walsh
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